Process of operating gas-producers.



C. BARMORE, JB. PROG-ESS OP OEEBATING GAB PRODUCERS. APPLIGATION 111.211 1.111.111.1911.

1,012,120. `Pamnted 111101111911.

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V Whammmfm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BARMORE, JR., OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 THE IMPROVED EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F COIBRADO.

PROCESS OF OPERATING GAS-PRODUCERS.

To all 'whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, CHARLES BARMonn, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Paterson, New Jersey, (post-office address, 60 Wall street, New York city,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Operating Gas-Producers, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawj gs.

The improvement relates t0 the'operation of gas producers wherein a substantial quantity of steam is introduced in the draft mixture for the two-fold purpose of restricting clinker formation Iand at the same time forming a substantial quantity of hydrogen in the producer ras. It is desirable that the steam introduce' should be free from Water vof condersation and preferably very considerably superheated in order that it shall not have too great a physical quenching action upon the fuel bed at the point where the draft mixture first meets the fuel.

The presentinvention provides a method of regulating and controlling the temperature throughout the fuel bed and economically using steam yfor the two-fold purpose justmentioned, giving a very uniform quality of gas produced and a convenient and close regulation of the temperature throughout the fuel bed so as to efiectively-avoid the making of clinkcrs to an objectlonable exten-t on the one hand, while revent-in tendenc to quench the fuel andP leave un urned car on in the'ashes, on the other hand.

Incarrying out the present inventionfin its ngost preferred form ,I inject, by a jet injector, blower, or otherwise, a carefully roportioned draft mixture derived from t ree sources, namely, atmospheric air, steam, and a sufficient quantity of hot waste products of combustion to raise the temperature of the mixture Well above the boiling point of water and materially superheat the steam present. Preferably I employ an injector and use steam as the injecting medium.

The specific heat of steam being very much greater than nitrogen or carbon dioxid, which are the principal constituents of the waste iroducts of combustion, I find that I am able to use the Waste flue gases at the highest temperature `available and vintroduce a considera le quantity Without raisin temperature of the steam and entire raft Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled January 27, 1911.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911. Serial No. 605,079.

mixture beyond the temperature at which they can be conveniently handled by blowers or metallic apparatus. 4

It is now well recognized. that the Waste products of combustion can be utilized to carefully regulate the tem )erature of the fuel bed of a producer and thereby avoid 0biectionable clinkering, such a process being ydisclosed in thefatent to H. L. Doherty, No.

829,105, grante August 21, 1906. It is advantageous to bring into the fuel bed as much heat as is possible, provided that the heat can, be carried in at a temperature not sufficiently high to in itself cause fusing and clinliering. In raising the temperature of the steam by the addition of Waste roducts of combustion under the present :nim-ovement, the high specific heat of the steam enables it to take up a proportionately large quantity of heat bustion Without temperature of the mixture, that is to say, pound per pound, the steam will bring down the temperature of the products of combustion far more than the steam in turn is raised in acquiring the temperature of the entire draft mixture. For the same reason it will be seen that the steam present in being raised on entering the fuel bed to the temperature of cqmbustion therein occurring, physically takes up a disproportionately large quantity of heat as com ared with the nitrogen, carbon dioxid an oxygen present. Of course, when the steam meets the incandescent fuel and asses up in the bed, it further acts, as will t `vellunderstood, endothermically, to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxid with the absorption of ph sic-al heat, From these considrrations the advantages oflny process of using steam to restrict the temperature and superhcating the steam by the products of combustion, which afford me not only a source of waste heat but, to the extent of the carbon dioxid present, un additional quantity of gas en able of reacting endotherlnically with tiie fuel with absorption of heat, will be readily understood tfnd apprecinte-d.

As will be readily understood, the temperature to which the fuel bed can be safely raised without roducin objectionable clinkerinv' varies with difierent grades of coal or of the coke formed from such coal;

from the products of cont` proportionately raising theV to the draft mixture, The

and the regulation of the mixture will be made with reference to the temperature of the fuel bed which it is desired to maintain. l find it convenient in practice to effect this regulation by increasing or decreasing the amount of air su pplied by means of dainpers after approximatel regulating the quantity `of'steaxn and prot ucts of combustion that are being mixed together. Under ordinary 'conditions of atmosphere, dampness of the coal, and temperature ofthe source of the products of combustion, derived from the combustion chamber of a gas bench, and using in the producer coke from Westmore land coal, for example, a draft mixture in the proportion of six pounds of air onehalf pound of saturated steam at fifteen pounds pressure, and one and a half pounds of hot products of combustion, will give an efective draft mixture at a temperature Well above boiling, so that the steam is superheated and yet far below incipient red heat. By increasing or decreasing the air supply without materially disturbing the other elements of the mixture, the temperature of the fuel bed of the producer supplied with such mixture can be regulated to a nicety and a substantial quantity of h 7drogen is formed in the producer gaswitiiout much unreduced Water vapor orsteam.

In the accompanying drawings one form of apparatus suitable for carrying out the process is illustrated.

Figure l is a partial front view of a gas bench of the ordinary interior producer type but supplied'with apparatus for carryf ing out the present invention.v Fjg. 2 is a Vvertical cross section on the lane 22 of Fig. l looking toward the left and in Fig. l.

At b is the charging door of the producer; andat c the ash-pit door. At d are air dempers for regulating the admission pf air draft is induced by injector mechanism comprising in the illustration a steam injecting nozzle e controlled by a\valve f, a throat into which the jet is directed, and draft iiieh leading to the o enings j, extending into the ash-pit grate o the producer, as will be well understood. At k is adovmtakeiiue controlled'by dampers Z-for bringin down a portion of hot waste products o combustion of the bench to heat the steam andair in-the draft mixture.' This in'ector mechf, nism and its connections is the respective sides of the producer, as 'will be apparent from Fig. 1.

As the invention does not residey in the construction of'the apparatus, further illustration Will be unnecessary, particularly as the construction of a gas-bench provided with similar injecting mechanism and con' nections is found in the Doherty vpatent above referred to.

The operation is as follows: Steam is ad uplicated en mitted through the injector nozzle e from a source of steam, at say fifteen pounds to the square inch pressure. The current of steam controlled by the valve j. Air is drawn through` ae openings in the damper d and productsl of combustion are drawn from the down-take flue n forming an intimate mixture with the steam in the throat g of the injector and passing4 as an intimate draft mixture through the openings j to the producer.

l have shown an additional steam pipe m for supplying steam to the mixture because it will be clear that the injector could be operated by com Jressed air instead of steam, the steam then eing supplied through the pipe m.

In usin the injecting medium at lo'w pressure, or example a pressure of a fraction only of a pound, the proportions of the draft mixture passing through the throat g are found to Var/y with .variations in the resistance of the fuel bed. For example, when the fuel bed has been first cleaned and the resistance is aminimum, the action of theA injector jet is relativel more efficient and it brings in more of tie fine products and air in proportion to the steam passing through the injector nozzle -e than when the resistance of the fuel bed has in creased by the accumulation of ashes. lf

pressure, 'the tendency of the increasing' resistance is to both actually and relatively` decrease the amount of flue products and steam drawn in by the injector and consequently, by the relative increase in oxygen, to raise the temperatufe of the hot zone of the fuel bed. Qn ther other hand, if the injector mediungweresteam or if it should be prodv ucts of combustion, the reverse effect would occur, the'pro ortion of oxygen 'relativeto steam and car on dioxid being diminished as'the resistance of the' fuel bed increases. These variations in the regulation Lhave overcome by using` an injector medium under relatively high 'nfessure and carrying the draft mixture through a relatively small throat g at high velocity, so that for practical purposes the effect is constant and the proportion does not change materially with the variations inthe resistanceof the fuel bed. Unaccount'of simplicity of construction and; efficiency of operation I )refer the steam injector to air ln'ectors, blowers, or mechanically driven dra t propelling means.

the steam used and after adjusting t em accordingly, to adjust-the lovghof products of combuationby the Hue dard'pers Z and the iiow of air by the air dampers d.` 'It will be \understood that the relative-proportion between,A steam and hot products lwill mainly determine the temperature of introduction 'otthemixture and the degree of superheab' the injector nozzle is operated by air at low Lprefer to use-steam injectors carrving all,

ing of the steam, while varying the amount of air relative to these two Will mainly determine the temperature reached at the giaximum temperature zone in the producer ed. Y

My invention is radically distinguished from the mere incidental use ol' steam as a means for inject-ing a draft mixture of air and products of combustion by the fact that l utilize the stcan'i in substantial quantities, and in excess indeed of the carbon dioxid present, to both. regulate the tem peratures and to furnish hydrogen in the producer gas.

I claim and desire to secure the following: 1. Improvement in operating gas roducers comprising supplying to a deep nel bed an intimately mixed heated draft current of air, hot products of combustion, and steam in excess of the quantity of carbon dioxid present, supplying heat to the mixture by the said hot products and maintaining the mixture materially above the boiling point of water, thereb avoiding quenching of the fuel Where the draft enters it, and regulating and restricting the temperature of the fuel bed below the objectionable clinkering int by regulating and restricting the re1aive proportionlof air in the mixture. 2. mprovement in operating gas producers, comprising sup lying to a deep pro-` ducer fue! bed a drafll); mixture of steam, air, and products of combustion in which the i tion, substantially steam inA the mixture is supcrheated and exceeds in volume the carbon dioxid present.

3. Improvement in operating gas producers, comprising su plying to the fuel bed thereof an intimate y mixed draft current of air, productsI of combustion, and steam, the endothermically acting gases present being mainly steam, the products of combustion being introduced to the mixture in a hot state and in suilicient quantity to heat the mixture Well above the boiling point of water, and regulating and restrictin the proportion of air present to restrict cllnker formation.

4. Improvement in operating gas producers with a draft current containing steam as the principal quantity of endotherniically acting agent present, which comprises supplying, with air from a relatively cool source and steam, sufficient heated products of combustion to give a temperature to the draft mixture above the boiling point of Water and regulating and restricting the proportion of air to restrict clinker formaas set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscriblng Witnesses Jan. 25, 1911.

CHARLES BARMORE, JB. Witnesses:

E VAN ZANDT, E. P. LA GAY. 

